CAEN solutions for Neutron Detection
In the last newsletter (you can subscribe here) we talked about CAEN solutions for Neutron Detection. Neutron Coincidence Counting is one of the fundamental techniques for non-destructive assay. CAEN offers complete solutions to satisfy the needs of attended and unattended measurements.
Unattended Data Acquisition Module for Unattended Monitoring Systems (UMS)
The R7780 is a complete readout, acquisition and analysis module for up to 8 neutron detectors that can work in unattended mode. It combines the functions of a Shift Register and a Pulse Train Recorder. The eight single-ended TTL inputs (LEMO) feature independent counting capability and adjustable input thresholds, giving the possibility to compensate TTL signal voltage drops in case of long- distance use.
The internal 100MHz sampling clock fits for high count-rate applications and the on-board FPGA with ARM CPU running Linux makes it possible to provide time-stamped lists and the overall neutron counting information (coincidence timing, multiplicity distributions of coincident events, etc.) required for the analysis in Nuclear Safeguards and nuclear material process monitoring.
Neutron Pulse Train Recorder
The R7771 is a Neutron Pulse Train Recorder for the acquisition of signals from 32 neutron detectors. It provides the time-stamped list of TTL pulses from neutron detector front-end electronics with 10ns pulse pairs resolution independently per each channel.
The R7771 provides the most complete information on neutron counting, giving the capability to characterize nuclear material in passive mode and to analyse the transients in active nuclear material interrogation. The 32 independent inputs allow for the acquisition from big volume assay systems composed by multiple neutron detectors.
Neutron Position Measurement System
R8033 High Voltage board, R1443 Charge Sensitive Preamplifier specifically designed for 3He/BF3 tubes and R5560 14-bit 125MS/s open FPGA Digitizer can be combined together to build a complete readout system for neutron detection applications. Thanks to its features, the system can acquire waveforms, energy, ToF spectra and perform position reconstruction.
Thanos software allows to easily manage all the setup and the acquisition parameters via the web-based GUI, saving the data and statistics locally or on the client PC.
R1443 technology is granted to CAEN by Institut Laue-Langevin – Grenoble, France (ILL). R5560 and DAQ is developed in collaboration with Nuclear Instruments.